Free At Last

by writes4fun-81

Ranger and the men who served with him in the Army have many secrets. One secret in particular prevents them from living regular lives. What will happen when they get a second chance at being normal? *Spoilers for FLF and others* BabeFic. HEA. COMPLETE.

25. Chapter 25

Free At Last

Disclaimer: Janet Evanovich owns Stephanie Plum and all of her family and friends. I just like to play around in her world. Anyone you don't recognize is someone from my own imagination.

A/N: Okay, I know it has been a while since I last updated. In appreciation for everyone's patience, I have written my longest chapter ever. I'm returning to the story's original premise, so our heroes will have a few things to work out as they navigate the sometimes rocky road of married life. Even though there have been lots of comical moments in this tale so far, this is still classified as a 'hurt/comfort/romance' story. With that in mind, this long chapter takes a bit of a darker turn. Once again, this is a multiple-POV chapter. Enjoy! :D

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… Ever since we'd had the discussion about marriage my imagination had been running wild dredging up possibilities for his deep dark secret. I knew it had nothing to do with killing people because that was no secret. I knew he wasn't gay. I'd seen that one firsthand. The memory brought a new rush of heat, and I resisted squirming in my seat. Was he scarred by a terrible childhood? Had his heart been so badly broken he was unable to recover?

"Earth to Babe," Ranger said.

I looked at him and unconsciously licked my lips.

"I'm going to have to disconnect your cubby's security camera," Ranger said. "I just heard everyone in the control room gasp when you licked your lips. I could have a hatchet murder taking place in full monitor view on one of my accounts, and I don't think anyone would notice as long as you're sitting here."

-- Eleven on Top

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Chapter 25: Tortured Soul, Part 2

Stephanie's POV

Our RangeMan wedding reception was one of the best and most laid-back parties I had ever attended. Everything, from Lester's annoying musical selections to the hilarious wedding cake toppers to the lack of any pressure to be anyone other than my natural self, was fantastic. I knew that Ranger had a few 'disciplinary actions' he planned on delivering during the next morning's gym workout, but I hoped he would remember that everything was for our benefit and that our friends truly meant well.

Nevertheless, after a few hours of celebrating – not to mention a few too many glasses of champagne – I was ready to head upstairs and go to bed. I had been speaking with Lula and Tank, who reminded me that there were some gifts for me and Ranger in his office, when I noticed that Ranger was exchanging words with two of his men. Eventually, the taller one, Vince, followed Connie out of the conference room. My husband – I loved saying that word to describe Ranger – continued talking to the other guy, Manny.

I stood behind Ranger and waited for Manny to walk away before I wrapped my arms around his waist and asked him about the intense-looking conversation. Ranger merely shrugged and told me that it probably wasn't anything to worry about. I wondered aloud if I had just become a member of an odd sort of fraternity here at RangeMan, which made him laugh. Then we both shared a smile over the idea that Connie might have captured the heart of one of our 'frat brothers' this evening.

I gazed up into Ranger's dark eyes and he immediately understood that I was ready to leave. I know he had been ready to go within ten minutes of our arrival on the fifth floor, but he was being extremely polite for the sake of our relationships with our friends here. As soon as we made the rounds and thanked everyone for such a warm welcome home, we finally left the conference room and walked down the hall toward Ranger's office. Ella chased after us, holding a white box in her arms.

"Ranger! Stephanie! Wait!" Ella exclaimed. "I saved the top tier of the cake for you. Here it is – just make sure you put it in the refrigerator as soon as you can." Then she held out the box to us and added, "Oh, and the dolls are in there, too."

I accepted the box and gushed, "Thank you, Ella! This is so sweet of you! I didn't get the chance to thank you for that wonderful suitcase you packed for me before we went to Miami, either, so … Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You're the best, Ella!"

"You're very welcome, Stephanie," she said, blushing. "Just let me know if you need anything – anything at all. I've placed a suit and some accessories for you in the dressing room so that you'll have something nice to wear to court tomorrow."

"Omigod!" I exclaimed. "I completely forgot about that!"

She waved her hands in a consoling gesture, "Well, don't you worry about a thing. I enjoy shopping for you. In fact, there are plenty of other clothes in the dressing room for you, too. Oh! I'm so glad that you and Ranger are finally married! It was about time he added a 'daughter' to all these RangeMan 'sons' of mine." Then she turned to Ranger and said, "And you – don't be too hard on the men. They just wanted to have some good-natured fun with you and your lovely bride. Don't ruin the mood by being a spoil-sport, Ranger."

The Man of Mystery merely nodded his head and I suddenly thought about my ruined pajamas, but decided not to mention them just yet. Instead, I said to the older woman, "Ella, you are so good to me! I'm honored that you see me as a daughter, but I hope that we'll become good friends, too. I'd really like to spend some girl-time with you and get to know you better, especially since we'll be the only females living in the building for a while. Perhaps we could go out shopping together sometime next week."

She beamed at me, "It would be my pleasure, Stephanie!" Then she bowed her head slightly and returned to her husband in the conference room.

"Girl-time, huh?" Ranger said, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Hey," I shrugged, "You don't fool me one bit. I know that you intend on torturing me with exercise sessions and weapons training and Spanish lessons and, to top it all off, a friggin' healthy diet. I need to get Ella on my side ASAP."

"Babe," Ranger replied. "In case you haven't noticed, Ella's already on your side. Remember those Butterscotch Krimpets in your suitcase?"

"You mean the ones you ditched on the plane ride to Miami?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. "How could I forget? You owe me, Mister 'Our-bodies-are-our-temples' and you'd better believe I intend to collect."

He crossed his arms over his chest and grinned evilly at me. "Oh, yeah? And how do you think you'll accomplish such a task?"

"I have my ways," I shot back. Of course, I was totally bluffing and he knew it, too.

"Hmm," he mused. "Just for the record, Babe, your body is a temple. And I intend to worship it day and night for the rest of our lives."

Oh boy! I almost tackled Ranger to the ground and made love to him right there in the hallway. We had controlled ourselves during the party; kissing for the audience of our friends, but nothing more. Sadly, the two pieces of wedding cake I had consumed were no match for the pre-menstrual horniness I was battling. Thankfully, Ranger had unlocked his office door and the motion-sensor lights automatically turned on, which surprised me enough to keep me from giving the guys on the security camera monitors the show of a lifetime.

Ranger let the beginnings of a smile play across his lips as he ushered me into his office and locked the door behind us. I was all over him in an instant and our clothes hit the floor in record time. We practically fell onto the long leather sofa in a tangle of arms and legs. All of the tension from being on our best behavior at the party flew away as Ranger made good on his promise to worship at the 'Temple of Stephanie' and he truly made me feel like a goddess. Afterward, we lay there panting until our breathing returned to normal.

"Dios, Babe!" Ranger's voice sounded husky as he whispered into my ear. "Do you have any idea how long I've wanted us to do that?"

"All night?" I guessed.

He shifted off of my body and turned toward me until we were face to face, with me nestled between him and the back cushions of the couch. It was a tight fit, but quite nice. In fact, our cozy position gave me an idea that we should keep a spare blanket and some other necessities down here for future opportunities.

"Longer than that, Babe. Much, much longer. I've wanted to have you on this sofa since the first time you ever visited my office," Ranger said and he glanced over his shoulder to look at certain spots around the room. "And against that wall over there and next to the window and on top of my desk. I've built up quite a catalog of fantasies over the years."

"Hmm," I replied, following his gaze. "Maybe we should just camp out in this office for a while so that we can, um, explore these fantasies of yours. Do you think anyone would notice if we didn't come out of here until tomorrow?"

"Probably."

"Hmph! The people in this building are far too nosy."

"Babe."

"Oh, look!" I exclaimed as I noticed the pile of boxes on top of Ranger's desk. "Presents!"

Ranger sighed when he realized that he no longer possessed my undivided attention. We disentangled ourselves and put our clothes back on. Then we walked over to the desk. Sure enough, there were several gifts – some wrapped nicely and others looking almost pitiful – spread out across the flat surface.

"Wow!" I exclaimed. "Look at all this stuff. The Merry Men really love us." It really was interesting to see that most of the packages on the desk were rather bulky and oddly shaped. I got the distinct impression that there wouldn't be any gifts of china place settings or crystal candy dishes from this crowd.

"We haven't opened them yet," Ranger said skeptically. "And Stephanie, you don't know my men the way I do. It wouldn't surprise me if one or more of these gifts aren't exactly what you'd expect for a wedding present."

"Can we open them now?" I knew I sounded like a little kid on Christmas morning, but I didn't care.

Ranger gave me one of his 200-watt smiles and said, "Sure, Babe. We can do whatever you want. You go first; pick one and let's see what it is."

The largest gift was also the worst-wrapped of the bunch; so naturally, I chose to open that one first. The card taped to the outside said that it was from Vince, Benny, Roy, Junior and Manny. Considering the tensions between Vince and Manny earlier during the party, I wondered if they'd had an argument while they were wrapping this lopsided package, too. Actually, I was quite impressed with the gift, but Ranger shook his head when he saw what it was – a set of very expensive, very impractical black silk sheets.

"Very nice," I said.

"I don't know, Babe," he said. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Pftt!" I scoffed. "What bad feeling? This is a wonderful gift! Your men know that we've got to sleep on something, right? Besides, I think silk sheets are very sexy, don't you?"

Ranger gazed hungrily at me and said, "Babe, if you really want to spend the rest of our first night back home here in my office, I won't complain, but if this gift is any indication of the other ones, I think there's gonna be trouble on the mats tomorrow morning. We have so little privacy as it is, so hope you'll understand that I'm not wild about my men imagining what we'll be doing between these sheets."

I hastily dropped the package of silk bedding back onto the desk and said, "Moving right along – it's your turn to pick one now."

He chose one of the few nicely-wrapped presents, which was a gift from Bobby and Vivian. When Ranger read the card aloud, we discovered an additional note from Vivian tucked inside which stated that she'd had nothing to do with choosing the non-clothing part of the gift. As soon as the glossy white wrapping paper fell to the floor, I could see why she had written such a thing.

The gift consisted of two boxes. One contained a set of DC Comics Justice League character pajamas for us: actually, there was an extra-large T-shirt for me with Wonder Woman charging out in front of all the other superheroes and there was a pair of cotton boxer shorts for Ranger which had the words "Super Powers" embroidered into the waistband. I instantly loved them! The other box was a humongous carton of triple-extra-large-sized condoms with the words "Have fun!" and "Be safe!" scrawled all over the container in bright pink Sharpie™ marker. It was funny and scary at the same time.

"I thought you said you shoot blanks," popped out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

Ranger narrowed his eyes at the boxes and said in a low voice, "I do. Ever since … well, my time in captivity."

"So … is the 'Super Powers' thing some sort of inside joke, then?"

"If it is, then it's a new one on me," Ranger said, his voice suddenly sounding odd. Then he opened one of his desk drawers, pulled out an empty army-green duffel bag, and placed the silk sheets, the pajama shirt and boxer shorts and the carton of condoms into it. "I'm putting all of our gifts in here to make it easier to cart them upstairs," he explained.

Next, I picked up a fairly large and somewhat heavy box covered with gorgeous silver wrapping paper and decorated with silver and white ribbons and bows. It was from Ella and Louis Guzman, naturally. The gift included a lovely pineapple-themed table cloth with matching napkins and placemats, a beautiful pewter serving tray in the shape of a pineapple and a finely-painted door hanger with a pineapple on it. I was overwhelmed by such generosity.

Ella's accompanying note was both helpful and confusing. She wanted to respect our privacy, so she told us to use the door hanger as a way to let her know when it was alright for her to enter the apartment. She also said that she wanted to honor the importance of pineapples in our lives. Ranger merely shrugged at Ella's odd comment about pineapples and carefully placed the items into the duffel bag with the other gifts.

Several men from the different departments and work shifts had pitched in to buy group gifts for us, too. Frederick Rodriguez and the guys in the Sales Department gave us a set of silver salt and pepper shakers shaped as pineapples. Sybo Diaz and the rest of the night shift monitor crew gave us a top-of-the-line, high-tech electric stapler. When Ranger raised his eyebrow at me over this, I reminded him about the incident two weeks prior when I'd had a mishap with my cheapo desk stapler and Sybo suspected me of playing a practical joke on him. It wasn't a romantic gift, but I was going to enjoy using our new stapler very much.

The entire first watch gave us a set of costumes. Yes, costumes! There was a Batman ensemble for Ranger, of course, complete with an authentic-looking utility belt and hard plastic body armor. I couldn't wait to see him wearing it. There was a Wonder Woman costume for me, complete with a golden lasso and funky high-heeled boots. Both outfits were of the highest quality and I was looking forward to playing dress-up with my own personal Batman real soon. The card from the guys read, "Sorry we missed you at Halloween this year, but now you'll be ready for next year's party!"

I looked at Ranger and asked, "What did I miss? I don't remember being invited to a Halloween party here at RangeMan."

Ranger shrugged again. "Diesel and his cousin, Wulf, were in town at the time and you needed to focus. Besides, you were having monkey issues."

"Ah," I nodded. No need for further explanation. Diesel, Wulf and Carl the monkey and his little friends definitely had held my undivided attention throughout the most recent Halloween season.

The second and third watches must have pooled their money together in order to be able to afford the fantastic gifts they gave us. There were matching semi-automatic handguns, stun-guns, handcuffs, wristwatches and flashlights for both of us. All of the items were black, brand new and they were contained in matching carrying cases which looked almost like standard military-issue toiletry kits. Seriously, they did. It was all high- quality stuff, too. These guys' card stated that since we were Mr. and Mrs. Ranger now, they thought we really needed these stylish kits for our 'ready bags.' I asked Ranger about that and he just smiled at me.

"A 'ready' bag is just that," he said. "It's the gear and clothing everyone keeps packed up and ready to go at a moment's notice."

"So … I'll need to have one of these 'ready' bags, too?"

Ranger nodded. "When it's time to go, Babe, we gotta be ready to go. We can't afford to waste time scrambling around looking for stuff to pack up. Ella's been working on your gear for a while now."

"My … gear?" I asked, trying to ignore the goose bumps on my arms.

"I didn't want to get into this right now, but we may as well deal with it," Ranger sighed. "I'm pretty sure that we're going on a mission sometime within the next few weeks. The exact timetable hasn't come down yet, but we should know soon. It's important for us to be ready when the call finally comes."

"But … but what about our honeymoon?" I whined. "You promised me that we'd have a nice, long honeymoon after we finished with this week's business and family obligations."

"And I'm going to keep that promise, Babe," he said quickly. "From the looks of it, you and I will be able to disappear together for a little while and then we'll handle the mission on our way back home. It'll be fine."

"Hmm," I said, suddenly skeptical. "Do you have any more unpleasant surprises up your sleeve tonight?"

"Well," he began, "Now that you put it that way, Babe, I may as well remind you that we have to be at the courthouse not later than seven-thirty in the morning."

My jaw dropped and I exclaimed. "Seven-thirty? But it's almost midnight right now! It's a good thing Ella got some decent clothes for me to wear to court. Jeez, Carlos, why do we have to be there so early? The first case of the day never goes in front of the judge before nine o'clock!"

"We need to meet with our lawyers first," he said. "There's some paperwork we need to sign."

"What kind of paperwork?" I asked, suddenly wary.

"Documents establishing your official, legal partnership in the RangeMan Corporation, powers of attorney, insurance forms, and things like that," he replied matter-of-factly.

"Legal partnership?"

Ranger closed the distance between us, encircled me in his warm embrace, and kissed the tip of my nose before he said in his very bad British accent, "Yes, Miss Doolittle, our legal partnership."

"Why, Professor Higgins, I don't know what to say!"I exclaimed and a giggled escaped from my throat. I stopped laughing when I saw the expression on Ranger's face. "Uh-oh. You're serious, aren't you?" I asked him.

"Very." He nodded again. "I meant what I said after we captured Cantrell. I want you to be my partner in every sense of that word and not just an employee or contract worker. And, starting tomorrow, we'll be well on our way to making our complete partnership a reality."

I felt my knees go weak and I was glad that Ranger was holding me up. "But, Carlos … are you really sure about this? What if your other partners don't want me? I mean, I was never an Army Ranger like the rest of you. Heck, we both know that I'm as far away from being military material as possible – even if I have the readiest ready bag in the building."

Ranger hugged me tighter and said, "Don't worry about that, Babe. Tank and I have been sending messages back and forth to our other partners - Sid up in Boston and Max down in Atlanta – all week long. After your participation in the Galarza case, Gonzo gave you his vote of approval, of course, and everyone else agreed to the new arrangement without any further discussion."

"You've been talking about me … behind my back?" I asked.

"We just want to make it official, Babe," he said, "before this next mission. We'll make sure you get the additional training you're going to need so that you'll be able to travel with me on future missions."

"Oh boy! I … I need to sit down," I said weakly. "I didn't expect this. And I never would have guessed that you meant to make me an actual partner in your business, Carlos."

"Even if you weren't my wife, I respect your intuition and your ability to piece things together enough to want you as my partner, Babe," he said as he scooped me up into his arms and then sat down in his comfy executive chair with me on his lap. "However, since you are my wife now, I want us to enjoy every aspect of our partnership – both public and private." Then we kissed for a while before returning to our presents.

Connie's presents were very cute and very similar to some of our previous gifts. She gave Ranger a Batman T-shirt and both boxers and briefs with the Dark Knight's Logo on them. She gave me a Wonder Woman T-shirt, as well as a matching camisole and panty set and she gave each of us our own superhero keychain and baseball cap.

As we unwrapped the last few packages on the desk, I began to understand Ranger's earlier skepticism. The table linens, serving tray and door-hanger from the Guzmans definitely were the classiest gifts of the bunch. After we placed Connie's superhero-themed items into the duffel bag, we detected more of raunchy theme among the remaining presents.

Tank's and Lula's gifts to us, which included a set of his-and-hers fuzzy handcuffs, as well as a bottle of cherry-flavored massage oil and a few other interesting toys, made me blush.. Yikes! Hector's gift to us was a book and DVD set of the Kama Sutra. Don't ask! Lester gave us matching his-and-hers edible underwear, one set was supposedly cherry-flavored and the other one was chocolate. Unbelievable! It seemed that there had been quite a field trip to the Pleasure Treasures adult store while Ranger and I were away. I had started to feel more than little turned-on by now and I was glad that there were no more gifts for us to open.

It became obvious that I wasn't the only one turned-on by our cache of sexy gifts. Ranger lifted the hair off of my neck so that he could kiss the sensitive spot behind my ear. His warm lips gently worked their magic all across my neck and shoulders. At the same time, his warm hands traveled up inside my shirt to work a similar sort of magic under the fabric of my bra. If we didn't leave the office real soon, I knew we'd end up fulfilling another one of Ranger's fantasies, especially since the surface of his desk wasn't cluttered with our gifts anymore.

I reluctantly pushed his hand back down to my waist, leaned away from him and said, "Can we continue this upstairs? Honestly, if you plan on getting me up in time to go to court, we need to go to bed real soon."

Ranger chuckled and gently slid me off of his lap. He stood and bowed and said, "Your wish is my command, Babe." Then he pulled me into a close embrace and whispered huskily into my ear, "But there will be plenty of other opportunities for us to fulfill my desk fantasy. You'll see."

"Stop reading my mind!" I grumbled playfully. Then I began to straighten my clothes.

Ranger just chuckled and said, "Stop making it so easy for me to read your mind."

Then he fastened the duffel bag full of gifts, swung it over his shoulders and expertly positioned it onto his broad back. He looked almost like a military version of Santa Claus. As I followed him out of his office and into the hallway, my whole body started to hum with anticipation. The last time I'd spent the entire night in Ranger's bed in this building, we'd been interrupted by a phone call from my father who needed me to pick up one of his regular cab customers. From now on, though, there would be no such interference from Dad or anyone else in my family. And that happy thought put a big smile on my face.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Ranger's POV

I wasn't joking with Stephanie when I told her that I had entertained several fantasies of making love to her in my office. Our time on the sofa was just one of many places I planned to fulfill my dreams and desires. And if she hadn't asked to go upstairs, sex on the desktop was going to be next on my personal agenda for us.

Still, it had been a long, tiring day and the next place I would make love to my wife was in my – no, our - bed. In fact, by my reckoning, it was way past our bedtime and we had a long day ahead of us. Like my Babe, I truly wished we could just fly away and go on our honeymoon immediately, but we needed to fulfill our responsibilities here in Trenton before we could fulfill our personal desires.

We quietly made our way out of my office and down the hallway. As we headed toward the elevator, we peered into the control room and all the guys on the monitors smiled knowingly at us. Obviously, they had observed the amount of time we'd been in my office and assumed – correctly – what we'd been doing. Stephanie waved at them and they all waved back. I raised my eyebrow at them and they all quickly returned their attention to their monitors.

The party clearly was over and the other women already had departed with their chosen men, but a few of the guys were still enjoying themselves in the conference room. Stephanie waved at them and they grinned back at us in what I thought was an odd manner. Suddenly, something felt 'off' and I wondered if Lester or one of the other jokesters had rigged the elevator to stall again. The entire exchange felt weird. Maybe it was time to start looking for a real Batcave of our own.

"Babe, let's take the stairs," I said and I pushed open the door to the stairwell.

"You feel it, too, huh?" Steph whispered back at me. "I don't trust the elevator, either, especially after the last time when we got stuck in it. Your cousin is a great guy, but I'm too tired to deal with another round of Aerosmith or one of Lester's other smartass musical selections."

I led the way up the stairs and grinned back at her, "Now you're beginning to understand what I've been dealing with all my life. Between Lester up north and Gonzo down south, there's hardly ever a dull moment at either RangeMan location. I have to be vigilant all the ti—" The words died on my lips when I opened the door to the seventh floor hallway. White balloons floated and bounced out of the doorway toward us and it only took me a moment to realize that this was the real reason for all the weird grins and smirks on the men's faces downstairs.

Stephanie came up behind me and peeked over my shoulder, "Uh-oh. Let me guess, the whole place is full of balloons, isn't it?"

I stood there for another moment, trying to control my anger. It was too damn late at night for this crap, especially when all I wanted to do was take my wife to bed! Then I turned toward the nearest security camera and said very calmly, "Gentlemen, you like fun and games so much? Fine. Expect lots more fun and games during your physical training sessions for the next few days, maybe even weeks. I know I'm gonna have lots of fun, 'cause we're gonna play lots of games – my games. Spread the word to everyone who's not on duty tonight to meet me in the gym tomorrow morning at 0430 hours. The last man to arrive gets to run an extra mile."

Then I drew out two of my knives, told Stephanie to cover her ears and I began to hack away at the knee-deep river of balloons. The noise was deafening, but Steph insisted on using her writing pen to help clear the apartment. Only our bedroom was completely filled up with the white orbs, so we pushed them down the hallway and into the living room area, popping as many as we could along the way.

The task was overwhelming and we finally gave up after about thirty minutes of poking and stomping. There were balloons and pieces of shriveled white latex strewn everywhere. I'm sure that Lester and his accomplices had a great time violating my personal space with such chaos. All I could think of was how much enjoyment I was going to get out of the next day's ten-mile run, extra calisthenics and, of course, my sparring match with Lester.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Stephanie's POV

At first, I was content to let Ranger perform his 'Indiana Jones' routine with his double-fisted knife wielding. Even though he was only dealing with a bunch of balloons, my brave hero really concentrated on popping every single obstacle in his path. And let me tell you, watching Ranger's muscles flex and bulge was way better than watching anything on TV. The sound was incredibly annoying, but the view was beyond outstanding!

It seemed as though the Merry Men must have bought out the entire stock of white balloons for the tri-state area. I finally couldn't stand still any longer, so I pulled a pen out of my pocket and began to help Ranger destroy the river of air-filled latex. Fifteen minutes into our balloon-popping marathon, I got a case of the giggles. I couldn't help myself. The whole thing was absurd. Within minutes, Ranger was chuckling, too, but I got the distinct impression that we weren't laughing for the same reasons.

It took us a quite a while to clear a pathway through all the balloons and afterward, I almost felt sorry for the Merry Men, especially Lester. It was probably a good thing that the jokester was one of Ranger's closest cousins or else he might not have been able to keep his job at RangeMan. And I really was glad that I was exempt from the early morning physical training sessions with the men. Despite all the laughter, Ranger had that deadly calm look in his eyes – the one responsible for many a criminal surrendering to his custody rather than trying to fight him.

Once we finished destroying a large portion of the balloons, we decided to push the rest of them out of the apartment, into the hallway and down the stairwell. I think that Ranger was tempted to fill up the elevator with the bouncy things and send them back down to the fifth floor, but then he decided against it. He already planned to make the men police up all of the 'strays' in the morning. With our luck, though, we'd probably find white balloons until Christmas.

The apartment was a mess! With all the little flickies of white latex everywhere, it looked like it had snowed all over the living room and kitchen and bedroom. Ranger looked exhausted and I'm sure that I did, too, but since he was such a neat-freak, I doubted that my husband would be able to sleep soundly with all this craziness in his private living space. When I started to pick up some of the pieces of popped balloons, Ranger growled at me to leave them alone. He told me that he had every intention of making the men clean up the mess – under Ella's watchful eyes, of course.

"Sorry, Babe," he quickly apologized. "I shouldn't have snapped at you; you're just trying to help."

"It's okay, Carlos," I said as I tossed a handful of balloon shreds into the kitchen garbage can. "Someday, we'll probably look back on this and laugh."

"Oh, I'll be laughing tomorrow morning in the gym," he said grimly as placed the duffel bag full of wedding gifts on the sofa and then stood in the middle of the living room to survey the mess.

I walked over behind him and hugged him around his waist. "Don't be too hard on your men in the morning. You've been a real good sport all night, but the next time we elope, perhaps we should tell everybody what we're doing and where we're going and when we'll be back and everything." Then I squeezed him a little bit tighter and said, "Now, Carlos, take me to bed!"

He turned around in my arms to face me and whispered hoarsely, "I thought you'd never ask." Then he lifted me into his arms and carried me down the hallway to the bedroom.

"So, is this the 'private aspect' of our partnership?" I asked as he gently placed me onto the bed and removed my shoes and pants.

Ranger's answer was a long, deep kiss before he turned off all the lights and removed the rest of my clothes.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Ranger's POV

We laid there in the darkness of the room, gasping for air with our arms and legs completely intertwined. I swear the earth moved again when we made love this time and I could hardly believe that this gorgeous, sensuous, and vigorous woman was mine forever. My men were going to pay dearly for every minute of time they had stolen from me this evening - time I could have spent in bed with my Babe instead of popping a bunch of damned balloons.

Stephanie sighed in contentment as her index finger drew lazy little circles on my chest. "Carlos, do you think it's possible to die from too much sex?" she asked.

"Babe."

She tapped my chest and said, "Listen, I know it's very late and we should be too tired to do anything except sleep, but that last time was … that was … oh, I don't even know how to describe what that was! All I know is that I want more and I can tell that you do, too. How can that be?"

"What's going on inside of that pretty little head of yours, Babe?" I asked.

"I don't know," she admitted. "We've been going at it like crazy ever since we decided to get married and I still can't seem to get enough of you. I even had cake tonight, but it doesn't seem to matter. It's just … crazy!"

"Crazy in a good way?" I asked, hoping that she wasn't having any regrets.

"Oh, yes, it's definitely a good craziness!" Steph exclaimed and then she kissed my chest and hugged me tighter. "I love being this kind of crazy with you, Carlos, but … it's also a little … scary."

"Don't be afraid, querida," I said, returning her hug. "My love for you grows only stronger and more complete with every minute that we're intimately bound together. You're everything I've ever wanted in a woman and you're way more than I deserve. I love you more than my own life, Stephanie. If that's crazy, then I want to be completely insane for as long as we both shall live. Don't you?"

Silence. I hadn't expected silence, but Stephanie didn't reply - not even with a nod or a shake of her head. Instead, I felt a drop of warm liquid trickle onto my chest and I heard her sniffle. When I shifted so that I could look into her eyes and saw that she was crying.

"Stephanie? Babe? What's wrong?"

"N-nothing's wrong, Carlos. It's just that you ... what you said … it was so ... so beautiful." And then the tears came down her face more steadily.

I kissed away her tears and discovered that they tasted almost sweet. Believe me, I've dealt with Stephanie's tears before, but those had been tears of fear or anger or sadness, and they definitely had tasted bitter and salty. Now, I noticed the small smile on her face and realized that these had to be happy tears. That's why they tasted different to me. Nevertheless, this was getting a little too mushy for me.

"Are you having one of those emotional girly moments again?" I asked, trying to sound light-hearted.

Steph nodded and swiped at the lingering wetness on her face. "I'm sorry," she sniffled. "I think it's getting close to, you know, that time of the month and everything is making me all emotional and girly."

I chuckled. "Don't be sorry, Babe. I like the fact that even though you can tackle a grown man just like Superman, you're still my Wonder Woman at heart. And I wouldn't have you any other way."

"Really?"

"Really."

Then I kissed her forehead and cheeks before claiming her mouth and then her body once more. It was the best feeling in the world to know that when I woke up, my Babe would be right there next to me again. I don't remember what time it was when we actually fell asleep, but I knew that I was going to be in rough shape when I met the men down in the gym. Perhaps Lester was right after all; Stephanie was going to wear me out. Ah, but what a way to go!

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Stephanie's POV

Damn! I knew I'd had too much to drink at the party and my full-to-bursting bladder woke me up in the middle of the night to take care of business. At first, I tried to ignore the increasing pressure, but it was no use. If I didn't head to the bathroom immediately, Ranger was going to have quite the rude awakening and I was going to be quite embarrassed by it. Moving as slowly as I could, I slid my body away from Ranger's and then hurried to answer Nature's call.

It was a good thing that I had gotten up when I did. The bad news was that my period had arrived. The good news was that I still had a small stash of personal hygiene products squirreled away in the bathroom from one of my previous overnight stays at the apartment. After I took care of everything, I popped a couple of Tylenols in anticipation of the cramps which were sure to come along very soon and stay with me for the rest of the day. Then I crept back into the bedroom, hoping against all hope that I could get enough sleep so that I wouldn't look like a complete wreck in the morning.

Ranger eyes were still closed and his breathing remained deep and steady as I slipped in between the soft cotton sheets next to his warm, relaxed body. The display on the bedside clock read three-forty-five and I knew that he would have to get up soon anyway so that he could head downstairs to meet his men in the basement gym. Since we wouldn't be having any actual intercourse for the next few days, I decided to reciprocate the sensuous "wake-up call" Ranger had given to me when we were in Florida.

In anticipation of what I planned to do, I applied a generous layer of lip balm to my lips and rubbed lotion into the palms of my hands. I was ready to bring my man to wakefulness in one of the most intimate ways possible and I was looking forward to driving him wild with passion in the same way that he had done to me. Unfortunately, I didn't get very far before Ranger's whole body tensed up and he threw off the covers in surprise.

He pushed me away from his body and sat bolt upright. His eyes were wild with fright as he cried out, "No, El Lagarto!"

This caused me to scramble to the edge of the bed and yelp in fear, "Carlos, what the--?"

I never got to finish my question because he suddenly clamped his hands around my wrists to prevent me from reaching for him again, even though I had absolutely no intention of doing such a thing. Ranger's eyes were glassy and unfocussed for a moment - as though he didn't recognize where he was - but then he shook his head quickly and tried to clear his thoughts. I must have whimpered, because he suddenly realized that his iron grip was hurting me. Ranger's face had a pained expression and then he let go of me as though I was made of hot coals.

"Carlos, what's wrong?" I wailed.

"Stephanie? Babe? Oh, God! I ... I'm so sorry," he said in an anguished tone of voice and then he vaulted himself out of the bed.

Now I was upset, too. "What did I do? Did I hurt you?"

"No, no! It's not what you ... it's just that he ... I ... Dios mio!" Ranger cried and then he disappeared into the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

I'd never seen Ranger - my Cuban Sex God, my Wizard, my Batman - run away from anything, but it was obvious that he had just fled from our bed. Something was terribly wrong and I knew that my actions had triggered it. I could hear him coughing and retching behind the closed door and then I heard the toilet flush. Finally, I recognized the sound of water running and a toothbrush scrubbing vigorously. The only thing I could do was turn on the bedside lamp and wait for him to emerge from the bathroom to explain what had happened.

"Are you … all better now?" I asked Ranger when he finally opened the door and entered the dressing room.

He silently shook his head and began to dress for his workout. When he had finished tying his running shoes, he leaned against the doorway of the dressing room and stared at me with a haunted look in his eyes. Rarely had I seen him look so pale and exhausted. Usually, Ranger only looked this bad when he thought I had been in grave danger or after he'd been searching for me because I'd been kidnapped or held hostage or some other bad situation. And I'd never known him to vomit – ever.

"Should I call Ella?" I asked him hesitantly. We both knew that our resident medic, Bobby, was at the beach with his girlfriend for the rest of the week. "Perhaps Ella should bring you something – a Tums™ or maybe some Maalox™?" I stopped speaking when he walked out of the bedroom and glanced over his shoulder at me.

"I have to go, Babe," Ranger said, his voice sounding as haunted as his eyes looked. "The men will be expecting me."

"Wait!" I exclaimed. I jumped out of the bed, pulled on my robe and ran down the hall after him. "Carlos, you can't just leave like this! Something's terribly wrong and we need to talk about it!"

His hand was on the doorknob, but he hesitated and turned back to face me. "Stephanie, I ... I'm so sorry. It's not your fault, but I can't talk about this right now. I think I was having a … a nightmare or a flashback or …something. I never meant to hurt you, it's just that ... I didn't realize that it was you and not--" Then he let the sentence trail off.

I remembered what Ranger had yelled out just before he woke up. Strange thoughts drifted into my mind about some of the details Ranger had told me concerning the time Colombian rebels had captured him. What if the things their awful leader - a criminally insane and sexually twisted scientist - had done to Ranger had messed him up so much that he couldn't stand for anyone to touch him in certain ways? What if my actions had just triggered those terrible memories?

A name suddenly came to me. "El … Lagarto?" I asked Ranger. "This is all because of that crazy Colombian bastard who tortured you and your men, isn't it?"

Ranger's sharp intake of air was almost like a full gasp and he asked, "H-how did you know about my … my nightmare ? And how did you know that it was about … El Lagarto?"

"You yelled out his name when I … when I touched you," I admitted. Then I took a deep breath and ventured further. "Carlos, you probably don't even realize that every time I've attempted to try to make love to you, you do something to take control of the situation. You're always able to distract me with your kisses and touches and you always end up on top of the situation - both literally and figuratively. Now that I think about it, I'm convinced it's all because of that horrible maniac's torture and abuse of you. It's as though you can't allow me to initiate or take control of our love-making.

If it was possible for the expression on Ranger's face to become more anguished, it did as he tried to apologize, "Babe, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to--"

I interrupted him, "I'm not blaming you, Carlos! It's not your fault what that evil monster did to you. All I'm asking is that you stay here with me now so that we can figure this out together. Call in sick or something. The men will understand. Just … please don't go downstairs like this!"

He shook his head and replied, "I can't stay, Babe; it's not safe for you. I'm not safe enough to be around you right now - certainly not after what I almost did to you."

"But Carlos--" I tried in vain to argue with him.

He lowered his head and opened the door. "I gotta go, Babe. We'll talk … later." And then he was gone.

Ranger was in trouble. I didn't have to be a psychologist to understand that my touch had caused him to freak out this morning. Ranger once had informed me that he was damaged - he'd even warned me that he was 'sick' in several important ways - and now I had irritated one of his invisible scars. A cold shiver of fear rippled down my spine as I realized that we were about to go through our first major test as a married couple and neither of us had even seen it coming.

I knew from having worked with a few battered women in the past - like Lula and like one of my college roommates who had been dated-raped back before that became an official term - that memories of violent personal assaults could trigger the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. I also knew, from working with some of Ranger's men, that a lot ex-military people suffered from PTSD, especially the ones who had been to war. Unfortunately, many of them avoided beneficial counseling because they didn't want to appear to be weak in any way.

At first, I didn't know what to do next. There was no doubt in my mind that Ranger would need professional help to overcome his current condition. I just stood there behind the closed door of the apartment, frozen in place. It was four-thirty in the morning and my sleep-deprived brain barely was able to process what had just happened, let alone figure out a short-term solution to get us through the day. As muddled as it was, my mind raced through a half-dozen possibilities and I rejected all but one. I hated to do it, but I picked up the phone and called for help.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Ranger's POV

I am a fool! Even worse, I am a damned fool for dragging the woman I love into my personal hell. I had been so intent on quickly making Stephanie Plum a permanent part of my life that I hadn't even considered how this part of my FUBAR past might cause serious trouble between us. Sure, I had given Steph a brief overview of the events that had happened back in El Lagarto's lair in Colombia, but I should have taken the time to tell her all of the gory details, especially because they now had come back to haunt me in the worst way. Someday, I would be free from the unwanted presence of El Lagarto's ghost in my life, but today was not that day.

To be fair, though, I had no idea that Stephanie's well-meaning and sensuous touches would trigger memories of a time I never wished to revisit. The nightmare seemed to be so real that when I felt her hand sliding down around me, it was as though I'd been transported back to El Lagarto's torture chamber and the terror was fresh again. If I hadn't recognized my surroundings so quickly, I seriously might have hurt my Babe. The look of fear and of horror on her face when I clamped my hands around her wrists, ready to break them in the next moment, was enough to make me vomit - and I did. Then I had to stay in the bathroom for a while until I regained control of my thoughts and actions.

When Stephanie ran after me in the hallway of the apartment, all I wanted to do was tell her that I had made a serious mistake by marrying her so quickly, but I knew she'd never understand such words. I also knew that she already felt responsible something that was in no way her fault. Damn! If only I had proceeded much slower with Steph, she might have been able to make a more informed choice before she married me - but I had been too impatient to wait for that. Now it was too late and I had almost physically hurt the person I loved the most.

I turned and hurried away from my Babe as though her life depended on it. And in some ways, I suppose both her and my future really did depend on what would happen in the next few hours. I realized that I needed to tell her the whole truth immediately upon my return. But I also knew I had to talk to somebody first. What if Steph decided that she couldn't handle being married to such a damaged soul? I wouldn't blame her if she left me and I certainly wouldn't try to stop her. Not now, anyway.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Tank's POV

After closing my cell phone, I stared at the gym floor and sighed tiredly. I was proud of Stephanie for making the call that had to have been difficult for her to make so early in the morning. However, I was angry at Ranger for putting his new wife in a position where she'd felt she had no other choice but to call in the cavalry, so to speak. Crap! The day hadn't even started and I already knew it was going to be a brutal one.

Carlos Mañoso and I have been to hell and back together. I've seen him at his best and I've seen him at his worst. We've been through firefights, fistfights and all kinds of urban and jungle warfare situations and taken care of each other through it all. We've also survived some of the most harrowing experiences that men can endure. As soon as I saw Ranger's face when he entered the gym, I had no doubts that my best friend had somehow landed back in some level of hell again.

Having received my advanced warning, I knew to watch Ranger like a hawk. Our military training has given us the skills necessary to keep our faces expressionless most of the time. Fortunately, I've had many years to perfect the art of reading Ranger's moods and this morning, the tightness around his eyes and mouth told me that he was not a happy camper. Stephanie had been vague as to the nature or cause of their argument, but it was plain to see that my best friend was in big trouble. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to warn the other men to go easy on the jokes before our boss entered the room and crossed over to stand in the center of the mat.

"Hey, everybody! Look who finally decided to show up!" Santos quipped and he stepped closer to Ranger on the mat. "Since you're the last man to arrive, Ranger, does that mean you have to run the extra mi--?"

Santos never finished asking his smart-ass question. In four swift martial arts movements, Ranger silenced the man and laid him out flat on his back, gasping for air. Clearly, our leader was in no mood for humor of any kind. No one else dared to say a word while Santos slowly struggled to get back up off of the floor. His face was a sickly pale color and he appeared to be in some serious pain.

In fact, Santos held his side and let out a stream of profanity in Spanish as he addressed Ranger again, **"Alright already! I'm sorry about last night! I apologize for … everything. Damn! I think you cracked some of my ribs, cousin."** Then Santos cursed some more and hobbled over to sit down on one of the workout benches.

Benny Barrato, who'd had a little bit of medic training back when we were on active duty, broke ranks to attend to Santos. Everyone else stared straight ahead, not exactly looking at our boss. That is, everyone except me, of course. I was the only one who maintained direct eye contact with Ranger and I stared coldly at him until he finally blinked. Then Ranger pushed his fingers through his hair in frustration and shook his head in disgust at himself. .

"Barrato! Take my motor-mouthed cousin to the ER and get him checked out. Call me once you know what the deal is," Ranger ordered. "The rest of you are dismissed to work out on your own. No slacking!" Then he turned to me and said, "My office. Now!"

No surprise there. We took the stairs, two at a time, up to the fifth floor and went straight in to Ranger's office. At first, he sat behind his desk, but he quickly got up and paced back and forth for a while before he stopped in front of the large glass window and stared out into the still-dark sky. I sat down on the couch and waited for him to calm down enough to speak. It seemed like half of an hour passed before my friend uttered a word.

"I really screwed up this time," Ranger finally said, still staring into the dark.

I resisted the urge to nod my head in agreement and said without any emotion, "I'm listening."

"I never should have married her, Tank," he said, sounding like he was a thousand miles away. "I've just screwed up her life and I don't know what it's going to take to fix this mess. Stephanie deserves better."

"That could be true," I said, "Except, you're forgetting one thing."

He glanced over his shoulder at me and asked, "What's that?"

"Stephanie loves you, man," I told him. "And the love of a good woman is some powerful stuff. Never doubt it. You'll work this out."

Ranger shook his head and quietly said, "She'd probably be better off with someone else – someone whose head is not as messed up as mine."

"Ranger Mañoso, that's a load of crap and you know it!" I growled, using one of his former military titles. "I don't think you realize just how lucky you are. Almost every man in this building would gladly trade places with you, but Stephanie Plum loves your sorry ass and she married you in spite of all your obvious shortcomings. Now that she's your wife, no one will disrespect that, so don't you disrespect it either."

"I … I almost hurt her this morning, Tank," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I held her wrists in my hands and I was ready to … to break them."

"But you didn't," I firmly reminded him.

"No, I didn't," he admitted. "I ran away from the situation, came downstairs and nearly tried to kill my cousin, instead. Damn! My head is so messed up I can hardly think straight!" Then he thrust his fingers though his hair in frustration.

"Okay, Carlos," I said, hoping to calm him down. "Let's forget for the present moment that I don't have a license to shrink your head, okay? I mean, we could call Doc O'Neill, and he'd be on the next flight up here. You know he'd do anything for you, but so would I. I'm here for you, man. Always have been, always will be."

Ranger went back to his desk and plopped down in his large, executive chair. "Don't call the doctor yet," he said as he massaged his temples with the tips of his fingers. "He'll be here on Monday, anyway, and I … I need help right now, Tank – before I go back upstairs to Stephanie. There's too much going on today for me to stay freaked out much longer. Hell, we've got to be in court in less than three hours.

"Why don't you back up and start at the beginning?" I asked. "What, exactly, happened between you and Stephanie this morning to set you off? When I saw you walk into the gym, your face looked like you'd seen a thousand ghosts."

"It was only one ghost, but that was one too many." Then his voice dropped down to a whisper. "It was Eduardo Lagos, El Lagarto."

A heavy silence settled in between us as I processed the absolute horror of El Lagarto's ghost rising up to haunt Ranger in his marriage bed. When Bobby and I rescued our leader from the hellish torture chamber in Colombia, we saw firsthand the effects of what that sick madman had done to Carlos Mañoso in his efforts to break his spirit. A lesser man would have crumbled under the abuses El Lagarto visited upon Ranger's body, but the fact that he still was mostly sane was a testament to his strength and resilience. Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, my best friend had refused additional psychological counseling regarding his ordeal when he transitioned out of the active duty Army. Clearly, that had been a mistake.

I sighed and said, "Listen, Ranger, you and I both know that you need real professional help to deal with this matter once and for all. The best I can do for you right now is to listen and try to understand. I'm willing to make a suggestion or two, but you've got to promise me that you'll talk to Doc O'Neill about this … episode and do whatever he recommends after that – including therapy. Understand?"

"Hooah." Ranger nodded solemnly and said, "I promise, Tank; I'll do whatever it takes. I don't want this to happen again. I can't allow it to happen again." Then he explained the events of the morning, including the details about his horrific nightmare and how Stephanie had unwittingly triggered such a violent reaction from him.

"That's … not good," I said after he finished talking, "Not good at all."

"No, it's not," he agreed. "But Stephanie already figured out that it's all connected to my time in captivity. Her intuition and her ability to remember details and fit them together scare the crap out of me sometimes. It took her less time to get inside of my head than the weeks it had taken Dr. O'Neill to deal with my PTSD back during my recovery phase after you guys rescued me out of that torture chamber."

I nodded, not wanting to remember that terrible day, but seeing it in my mind's eye anyway. "Your Bombshell BEA is quite a woman, that's for sure," I told him. "Like I said before, she loves you, and knowing Stephanie, she'll do whatever it takes to help you. So … what do you want to do next?"

"I have to go back upstairs and try to smooth things out," he replied. "I just hope she'll be in the right frame of mind to listen to me after I walked out on her like that. She was right; you know. I shouldn't have gone down to the gym. Now Lester will have to be on light duty until his body is back to normal and it's entirely my fault."

"Hey! Santos is a big boy and he'll be fine," I reminded him. "He knew he was baiting you. Besides, you've whupped his ass worse than that several times over."

"Yes, but never in anger like today," Ranger replied. "All I felt was this incredible rage toward El Lagarto and I took it out on one of my own men, my own flesh and blood, even. How messed up is that?"

I sighed. "Ranger, Eduardo Lagos is dead. We all made sure of that fact before we left Colombia. What I still don't understand is why that bastard has returned from the grave to haunt you now? I mean, did you ever have an episode like this when you were with … um … any other women?"

He shook his head no, but I had difficulty believing him. Ranger might be a total badass, but he was just as capable as the rest of us mere mortals of going deep into denial. Seriously, though, my friend needed to face up to the reality of his situation and deal with the truth of his condition before he could return to Stephanie and try to work things out with her. With all that in mind, I made another attempt at getting Ranger to open up about his previous sexual encounters.

"Well, what about all the times you and Stephanie have been together?" I asked. "Weren't there any warning signs when she touched you like that before this morning's encounter?"

Obviously, Stephanie's well-meaning and loving actions had triggered in Ranger an episode of PTSD. In the dream-state of his sleep-deprived condition, he had thought that his torturer was handling him, and not the woman he loved. There was no simple or quick solution to this problem, but we needed to come up with something which would allow Ranger to patch things up with Stephanie now so that they could get through the days ahead until the doctor returned.

Ranger's face had darkened and for a moment I thought he was going to explode at me for asking such intrusive questions, so I tried to take the edge off by offering my observations. "Look, Ranger," I began slowly, "I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but I know that you and Stephanie have been hopping in and out of each other's beds now for the past two years. Anytime she and the cop broke up, she'd be right back with you – which is where she's always belonged anyway - but that's beside the point. What I'm hoping to get at here is the trigger. We need to figure out why, after spending all this time together, Stephanie's actions suddenly sent you off the deep end today. Did she do something, anything differently than she ever did before?"

Ranger silently stared at me for a while and then he took a deep breath and let it out before he spoke. "Tank, you know I trust you with my life, as well as my secrets. What I'm about to tell you is the God's-honest truth and it cannot leave this room. No woman –not even Stephanie – has touched me like that … since … since Colombia. No hand jobs, no blow jobs, nothing of the sort."

"Uh-huh," I said skeptically. "And I suppose you just think happy thoughts in order to produce samples for the Doc to be able to run his tests, right?

"That's completely different," he replied. "I've always maintained total control in those kinds of self-inflicted situations."

"Wait a minute!" I protested. "I've seen you disappear with women – lots of women, including Stephanie – and then return to duty looking pretty damn satisfied."

His eyes narrowed slightly and he said, "I'm a selfish bastard, Tank. I only took what I needed from those women and then moved on. If you'll think back for a moment, you'll realize that no one ever spent the whole night with me; no one ever appeared next to my side more than once and no one ever stayed in my apartment, until Stephanie Plum tripped her way into my life. And as for hopping in and out of bed with her, well, we mostly just … slept. Until last week, we'd only had one night of sex and that was almost two years ago."

"One night," I repeated, trying hard to believe what I'd just heard. I still couldn't wrap my brain around the idea that my old friend Ranger, a man whose sexual prowess was legendary, had been living a near-celibate life for the better part of the past two years.

"I know, I know," he said tiredly. "You and all the other men think that we've been having all sorts of fun up on the seventh floor for a long time, but it just isn't so. Like it or not, Stephanie was amazingly faithful to Morelli – at least when it concerned actual intercourse. Sure, I'd poach a little here and there, but something would always happen to prevent us from going very far. I can't begin to tell you how many cold showers I've taken since I allowed myself to fall in love with Stephanie."

"Cold showers?" I shook my head in mock disgust and said, "We all thought you were getting plenty of good nookie upstairs. Damn, Ranger! You're rotten, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know," he said and half-joked, "That's probably why I'm being punished now."

"Don't go there, man," I said sternly. "You are not being punished. In fact, despite all your rottenness, you have a great woman - one who loves you in ways you probably haven't even figured out yet. And no matter what you say about when you started having regular sex with Stephanie, you've been having the kind of sex life that most men can only dream about."

Ranger pressed his lips together into a thin line and then said in a very controlled voice, "But at what price? Before I left the seventh floor this morning, Stephanie told me something about our sex life that took me completely by surprise. I had no idea how much I dominated our time in the bedroom."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You know I'm a control freak," he said. "But in my defense, I think that whatever I've done, I've probably done it subconsciously. Unfortunately, the overall effect has been such that today was the first time Steph ever … the only time she was able to … to try to make love to me."

"You're kidding!" I exclaimed, but quickly saw by the expression on Ranger's face that he most certainly was not kidding. "I'd have turned into a raving lunatic by now if I had tried to go without good lovin' for such a long time. Maybe that's part of your problem, too. You know what the doctor said about that."

Ranger looked confused. "What the doctor said about what?" he asked.

"Damn!" Realization hit me like a ton of bricks and all I could do was shake my head in true disgust at my failure to keep my boss fully informed. "Remember how the Doc came through Trenton last week while you were in Florida?"

"Hooah. I remember the text message you sent to inform me about his unexpected appearance," he said.

I scratched my head and continued, "Well, he gave us some advice that I didn't pass on to you, primarily because I figured you were already following his guidelines without knowing about them directly.

"Explain."

I counted off the doctor's recommendations to us on three fingers. "Get lots of rest and relaxation. Maintain a healthy sex life. And eat lots of fresh tropical fruits, especially pineapple for its special enzymes."

"Okay, I give up. What the hell are you talking about now, Tank?"

"They're the basis for Doc O'Neill's latest prescription for healing our bodies of El Lagarto's poisons and boosting sperm production," I explained. "Apparently, those three things are the magical combination that worked for Silvio and his wife. Didn't he tell you about all that when you were down there at the office in Miami?"

"No. Silvio didn't say anything about his sperm count and I didn't ask. His pregnant wife looked very healthy and he looked very happy and that's all I cared to know." Ranger said, sounding slightly annoyed.

I apologized. "Sorry, boss. I should have told you all the details earlier. There's more good news for us up here, too. The samples that the doctor took from us last week all showed signs of having some swimmers in them. That's why some of the guys are getting serious about the women in their lives now. You probably noticed that Vince is finally going after Connie from the bonds office."

He nodded. "Hooah. And Manny almost caused a problem with that situation last night."

I continued, "Bobby took Vivian to the shore for a romantic getaway so that he finally could propose to her, even though she's still got another year of med school. Even Roy is thinking about marrying his live-in girlfriend. Who knows? Maybe when the Doc is here next week, you'll receive some good news, too, Ranger."

Ranger abruptly stood up and walked around his desk to stand directly in front of me. "Are you telling me that Dr. O'Neill has seen evidence of viable sperm in everyone's samples from last week?" he asked, his voice sounded agitated again.

"Hooah," I replied, a little defensively. "Not that it matters for me and Lula, but even I had some swimmers. The Doc told us that they weren't moving as fast as they need to for optimal fertilization, but at least our bodies seem to be producing them again."

Ranger definitely looked and sounded agitated as he asked, "And the reason you failed to pass this information on to me is … what?"

I quickly gave him a standard military avoidance answer, "No excuse, sir!"

Ranger sat down on the couch next to me, dropped his head into the palms of his hands, and groaned. At first, I had no clue about what could possibly be wrong now, but then a funny thought occurred to me. I hesitated to ask another question about his newlywed lifestyle, but then I decided to open my big mouth anyway.

"You and Stephanie have been practicing safe sex, haven't you?" I asked half-jokingly.

He shook his head without looking up. "No."

I let the silence hang there for a few beats and then I said, "Dr. O'Neill is cautiously optimistic. He's not saying that everything is back to normal yet, but he hopes that someday soon, we'll be free to have families – or not. At least we'll be able to make our own choices. Anyway, you're married now, so if anything happens, you're good to go!"

Ranger answered me with another groan and then said, "I really wish somebody had told me about all this 'good news' much sooner."

I shrugged and said, "I had no reason to think that you were flying around without a safety net, so to speak. And since you and Stephanie were already in Florida, I figured you were doing exactly what the doctor ordered."

"What gave you that impression?" Ranger asked.

"Oh, come on!" I said, trying not to sound too defensive. "From all accounts, you two had a great time in Miami. You slept in late on the seventh floor of the Biscayne building and stood up poor Danny Cruz one morning, so I'm assuming you got plenty of rest. You went fishing off the Batcave and stayed at your uncle's place, so I know you got plenty of relaxation. Ella made phone calls down to Rosie and to your grandfather's chef, so I know they fed you all the right foods. And then, to top it all off, you eloped with the Bombshell BEA! I'm telling you; when I stood up next to you at your wedding, I could feel the good-nookie vibes rolling off of both of you. Don't be mad at me!"

Ranger lifted his head and smiled slightly for the first time all morning. Then he said, "Gonzo's got a big mouth, but, yeah, Steph and I did have an awesome time while we were down in Miami."

Smiling back at him, I punched his arm and said, "See? When you stop to think about it, Doc O'Neill's prescription was unnecessarily redundant for you, Ranger. In fact, you've probably been following doctor's orders much better than the rest of have been doing since he issued them to us."

Ranger shook his head and said, "Let's just hope I haven't made you an uncle before your time, old friend."

"Uncle?" Now I was confused again.

"Yeah, if Stephanie and I ever have any kids, I'm gonna declare you to be an honorary uncle." Then his smile widened and he said, "Now I think I understand the reasoning behind some of our more unusual wedding gifts."

My face got hot when I remembered the gifts that Lula coerced me into giving with her. "About those … um … items from me and Lula; I just want you to know that they weren't my idea."

Now Ranger barked out a genuine laugh. "Tank, I've never thought of you as a gadget man. The guns and regular handcuffs are more your style, but those toys you two gave us were classic Lula all the way. And I can guess how she persuaded you to put your name on the gift card with hers."

"Yeah, well, you know how it is," I mumbled, momentarily embarrassed by the whole thing. Then an off-the-wall idea entered my mind and I explained my thoughts to Ranger.

"You really think that'll work?" Ranger asked.

"Maybe," I shrugged again. "But don't try anything until tonight. I'll be staying in Bobby's apartment overnight so that you can call me if anything goes wrong. Of course, there's no guarantee of success, but even if it does work, you're not off the hook for therapy. Got it?"

He gave me a mock salute and said, "Aye, aye, sir!"

"Smart-ass!" I replied "When Doc O'Neill finds out that I've been playing amateur head-shrinker again, he's probably gonna kill us both for being so stupid."

"Thanks for helping me, Tank," Ranger said as he rose up from the sofa and stretched. "I appreciate everything you've done for me this morning."

"Anytime, old friend, anytime," I said and stood next to him. "I know you'll do the same thing for me if the need arises. But I'm warning you, Ranger, if you freak out again, I'm calling the Doc immediately – no arguments, no excuses. Agreed?"

He nodded. "Agreed."

Then we clasped hands and pulled together in a brotherly hug before we walked out of Ranger's office together. Hal was walking down the hallway to bring us the message that Santos would be okay. None of his ribs were broken, but two of them were dislocated and severely bruised, and we winced at the news. Dislocations could hurt just as much as fractures and it would take some time for the injuries to heal completely. Ranger was going to owe his cousin big time. Still, it was good to know that Santos was basically fine.

As soon as Ranger stepped into the elevator, I called Stephanie to let her know that he was on his way up. I quickly told her about what happened in the gym and then I assured her that Santos was going to be just fine. "Go easy on Ranger, Stephanie," I told her. "He feels very, very bad about what happened, but I think he really wants to work it out with you. … Yes, but he was only trying to protect you. … Okay, you're right and he knows that. ... Fine! But don't get distracted. … I'm just sayin'. … Remember, we all still have to be at the courthouse at seven-thirty. … Yeah. … You're welcome. … Me, too. … Bye!"

Yep, Carlos Mañoso was a lucky man and I hoped that everything would work out fine for him and Stephanie. Since it was only 0600 hours, I went back down to the gym to do an abbreviated workout. After taking a quick shower, I went back up to my office and closed my eyes until it was time to go to court. It promised to be a long, grueling day followed by an even longer, potentially dangerous night, especially if my idea for Ranger and Stephanie wasn't successful. All I could do was be patient and wait.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Ranger's POV

I opened the door to my apartment and placed my keys in the tray as usual. The smell of freshly brewed coffee greeted me, but not my Babe. That was a little disappointing, so I went into the kitchen, poured a large mug full of coffee and drank it black. The hot liquid felt great as it flooded my system with its much-needed caffeine. I waited to see if Stephanie would join me in the kitchen, but the apartment remained very quiet and I was left alone with my heavy thoughts.

White balloons still bounced and floated around, cluttering the floor in every room and hallway. Kicking several balloons out of my way as I walked down the hallway, I decided to go directly into the bathroom to take my shower. When I was done, I stood in the doorway with a towel wrapped around my waist and took a moment to observe my Babe. She was all curled up under the covers, but I did not for a minute believe that she was asleep.

"Thanks for making the coffee," I said, not moving from my spot in the doorway.

Stephanie opened her eyes and asked me, "Feeling any better?" When she lifted her head from the pillow and smiled at me, my heart filled with something that felt a lot like hope.

"Somewhat," I replied casually. "Did Tank call you?"

"Yes," she admitted.

"What did he say?"

"He reminded me that we have to be at the courthouse at seven-thirty."

"And …?" I walked over and stood at the foot of the bed.

"And he said that I should go easy on you."

"Will you?"

"I'm thinking about it."

I grinned. "If you let me slide into bed next to you, I'll help you decide."

Steph's smile faded just a little, but she lifted the covers for me anyway. I dropped the wet towel and climbed into bed next to her, wrapping myself around her as I settled in. She was wearing one of my T-shirts for pajamas again and I decided that I'd make it a priority to order a new set of those sexy pink pajamas for her before the day was over.

"Mmm," she said as she cuddled her face against my chest and took a deep breath. "I love the smell of warm Ranger in the morning."

I couldn't help but chuckle at her comment, even as my body responded to hers. I wanted to make love to Stephanie right then, but I knew we had several important things to discuss before that could - or should - happen. Sighing inwardly, I resigned myself to just holding my wife in my arms and I tried to think of what to say first. Stephanie beat me to it and her words took some of the wind out of my sails.

"Down, boy!" she said and placed her palm against my chest. "I started my … um … I got cramps this morning, so it's a good thing we had such a great time in Florida and down in your office and here last night. It'll be a few days before we can … you know."

For some reason, that news flash was very comforting to me. For once, Nature's timing had worked out in my favor and I was relieved to know that I hadn't unwittingly impregnated my wife. I wasn't quite ready to discuss the possibility of having any children with Stephanie at this time, especially since my head was still so messed up. Now there would be a little breathing room and I'd have the chance to speak face-to-face with Dr. O'Neill before Steph and I talked about our options.

Deciding to open with an apology, I spoke softly to her, "I'm sorry you're not feeling so good right now, Babe. I'm also sorry for walking out on you this morning. That won't happen again."

"I love you, Carlos," she replied, hugging me closer to her. "And I forgive you. Tank explained to me that you really were trying to protect me."

I shook my head. "Nevertheless, it was the wrong thing to do, even though my motive was right."

"It sounds like you had some sort of flashback this morning," she said. "I'm sorry that my … actions caused that to happen."

"Stephanie, you don't have to apologize for trying to make love to me – ever," I said. "It might take me a while to work on the reasons for my reactions to your touch, but you had no way of knowing that your actions could transport me back to a time and place I never wish to relive."

"Wait a minute," she said, sounding a lot like Tank, "Haven't you ever dealt with this sort of thing when you were ... um ... intimate with other women?"

My jaw tightened involuntarily and I replied, "I told you, after Julie was born, there weren't any other women. At least, there were none who lasted longer than a one-night stand."

"That's ridiculous!" Steph scoffed. "Carlos, you're a sex magnet. I've seen women falling all over themselves to get into your pants. And you're a … a studly man, too. How can you expect me to believe that no other woman has ever tried to make love to you in all this time? What about Rachel?"

I shook my head. "Babe, the fling between Rachel and me happened long before the mission to Colombia. And, remember, we never lived together under the same roof. Our brief marriage was only a business arrangement for Julie's benefit. Other women came and went and they knew that they would never have a relationship with me. I always was in control and I always moved on as quickly as possible."

"Including with me," she said sadly.

"Only at first," I reminded her. "But, Babe, you've got to believe me when I tell you that you're the only woman who has spent more than a single night in bed with me since El Lagarto put his hands on my body. I'm just beginning to understand how deeply his actions have been influencing my behavior all this time. Stephanie, I want to break free from my tormentor's lingering chains once and for all. Will you help me?"

"Carlos, you're my husband," she replied. "Of course I'll help you!"

"Thanks," I nodded. "I've been afraid that you might not want to stick around and take a chance on being burdened with a loco husband. I know it took me a while to figure things out, but when I finally did, I realized I just couldn't stand it if you got back together with Morelli again, and I--"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" she interrupted me. "Am I supposed to be flattered to learn that part of the reason you married me so quickly was to prevent me from going back to Morelli again?"

I sighed and rolled away from her. "That didn't come out the way I meant it to, Babe. I wanted you to marry me, because I love you. Period. And this morning, I thought … well, I thought that what I had done was unforgivable. I never want to raise a hand toward you or grab at you in anger ever again and I promise that I won't do those things to you ever again."

"I believe you, Carlos; I really do," she said, "But I'm still trying to figure out how you could go along for all these years, giving women - including me - the big 'wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am' version of love, and you didn't realize that you wouldn't be able to allow a woman to make love to you without you flipping out over it."

"I don't know," I admitted and I continued to stare up at the ceiling.

She sat up half-way and leaned on her elbow so that she could gaze down into my eyes."So, what you're telling me is that all this time, you've really had no idea about the magnitude of your PTSD or your control issues?"

"No, I didn't realize that my PTSD symptoms could be so intense, but I have always admitted to being a control freak," I said. "Stephanie, I swear that nothing like that has ever happened to me before, so I didn't know what to do afterwards. I honestly was afraid that if I stayed here in the apartment with you, I'd end up hurting you badly."

"Like with Lester?" she asked.

"Tank told you about that, too, huh? What else did you two discuss while I was in the elevator?" I was trying not to be annoyed about that, but my voice betrayed me.

"Don't be angry, Carlos," she replied, "I called Tank first - right after you left me this morning."

I sighed again. "You did the right thing, querida. I was out of control and … and, unfortunately, Lester paid the price."

Steph chuckled and said, "Well, your cousin did deserve a little bit of pain. Those stupid songs of his keep replaying in my mind and I can't get them out of my head. And the apartment reeks of busted balloons! We have to get this mess cleaned up soon or else move out until the stench is gone."

"Don't you worry about that," I said. "I already left a message for Ella and everything should be back to normal by the time we get back from the courthouse."

Stephanie groaned and rolled away from me, "Speaking of the courthouse, I'd better get up now. It's going to take longer than usual for me to get ready."

"Why?" I asked.

She got out of the bed and walked toward the bathroom. Before she closed the door, she turned to me and said, "Carlos, look at me! I've hardly had any sleep over the past two days, so the bags under my eyes have bags under them. My hair looks like a squirrel's nest. My skin is all blotchy from the Florida sun. And I feel bloated and yucky. In short, I feel like hell and in order for me not to look the way I feel, it's going to require extra time in front of the mirror, extra mascara and extra coffee. In fact, I probably should be mainlining coffee right now; otherwise, I don't know how I'm going to make it through this day."

"Babe." What else could say?

She closed the bathroom door and I heard her turn on the shower. Then she yelled through the door, "And a donut or two or ten would be nice."

"That stuff'll kill you," I yelled back at the closed door.

Stephanie and I still had to discuss a lot of important things, but at least it felt like we were going to be okay for the time being. We just had to make it through the day and then we could talk about Tank's idea for our "do-it-yourself therapy session" tonight. That thought put a smile on my face again and I went into the dressing room to get ready. Then I made another fateful decision. Calling down to the control room, I asked for a volunteer to go on a very special mission. I needed someone to go out and get some donuts for my wife - ASAP!

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A/N: This was a tough chapter to write. I had created the rough outline for it long ago, before many of the other chapters ever came into existence, but it was difficult to fill in all the actions and reactions and dialogue. I'll be adding some more photos to my album for this story soon and I hope you'll check them out. It was lots of fun "shopping" for all the wedding gifts that the RangeMan crew gave to Ranger and Stephanie and I was able to find a lot of great images to help you see what I've described above. Please let me know what you think about all this. Thanks! :D